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The Cardano Roadmap Explained

Cardano is one of the more interesting cryptocurrencies out there. It’s a proof-of-stake cryptocurrency, which is rare.

This means that users that hold more of the cryptocurrency receive more priority when mining. And that fits in with the goal of Cardano – true decentralization and a democratic process. Users will receive voting power based on the amount of Cardano that they hold. 

Anyway, Cardano has a roadmap for the five different eras of the project. Each era has a name and a clear purpose. 

This article will describe the different eras of the Cardano roadmap and where Cardano is on its current roadmap. We will also answer some frequently asked questions about the Cardano roadmap and Cardano in general. 

The Cardano Roadmap

cadrano roadmap explained

Here are the different eras of the Cardano roadmap along with a brief explanation of each stage.

Byron – Foundation

The Byron stage’s purpose was to develop the Cardano technology, a wallet, and launch the project to the public. This stage began in 2015 with much research into cryptocurrency and a whole lot of coding to build the cryptocurrency. 

This stage was completed in 2017 when Cardano was launched to the public. The Daedalus wallet and Yoroi wallet were both launched in this stage of development. 

Shelley – Decentralization

The Shelley era of Cardano is much more vague than the Byron era because the Shelley era is focused on decentralizing the network. 

However, Cardano wants to focus on having a smooth transition to decentralization rather than an abrupt transition that could lead to network disruptions.

Cardano is currently in the decentralization era. The network isn’t fully decentralized at the moment – many nodes are run by the Cardano project itself. 

Of course, at the end of this era the goal is to have all the nodes running on the Cardano community rather than through the project. 

The overarching goal of this era is to increase community involvement in Cardano and set a solid foundation of decentralization. Once full decentralization is achieved, then Cardano can move onto smart contracts, more users, and a completely decentralized governance. 

Goguen – Smart Contracts

The goal of the Goguen era is to introduce smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) onto the Cardano network. The smart contracts are of particular interest because they will use a programming language called Marlowe. 

Marlowe is unique because it’s an easy-to-use language that will allow just about anyone, not just computer programmers, to write a smart contract. Also, Marlowe is aimed at enterprise-level smart contracts, which should draw more money into the Cardano network. 

Finally, this era will allow a multi-currency 

This era is currently being developed to ensure a smooth transition from the Shelley era. 

Basho – Scaling

The Basho stage of Cardano is another growth stage. This stage will focus on ensuring that the network can handle the large amount of users it is expected to have at this point. The main feature that will be rolled out during the Basho stage is the sidechain.

Sidechains

Sidechains are separate blockchains that will be interoperatable with the main blockchain. These will allow for a large network capacity because the work on additional work can be sharded off the network. 

Voltaire – Governance

The final stage of Cardano is the Voltaire stage. This stage will see the full transition to self-governance of the Cardano network. 

This will be done by the introduction of a treasury and voting system.

Basically, the voting summary will allow those participating in the network to submit network proposals. These proposals will subsequently be voted on by other network participants. 

The treasury system that will be introduced in this era will collect fees from transactions and store them in a pool. This pool will then be used to pay for developers to develop any proposals that network participants vote to implement. 

This era began its early stages with the launch of the Catalyst project in October of 2020. The Catalyst project introduces some voting features into Cardano. And the development of this project was paid for by the Cardano treasury releasing $250,000 in funds.

Cardano Roadmap – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This section will cover some of the most frequently asked questions about the Cardano roadmap.

Where is the Cardano project currently on the roadmap?

The Cardano project is currently in a hybrid of the Shelley era of development. It will immediately jump to the Voltaire era when enough nodes are run by the community. 

The Goguen era will likely begin sometime in 2021 when Cardano has completed development of Marlowe and smart contracts.

Is Cardano working on multiple eras simultaneously?

Yes, one of the strengths of Cardano is that the project works on multiple stages at the same time. The Shelley era will end once the community is large enough to support a fully decentralized structure. 

Development and the partial launch of the later eras is not dependent on the completion of the Shelley era, though.

Will Cardano ever reach the Voltaire stage?

Yes, Cardano recently launched the Catalyst project to the public in a beta stage. This project allows network participants to vote on certain decisions relating to the Cardano network.

Is Cardano a good investment in the early stages?

Yes. Cardano has done a great job at fulfilling the rather large expectations that they set for themselves, so it stands to reason that this trend will continue into the future.

This makes Cardano an excellent investment. 

Who founded Cardano?

Charles Hoskinson founded Cardano in 2015 and released it to the public in 2017. Hoskinson is also a co-founder of Ethereum, so he has an excellent track record with cryptocurrencies. 

The Cardano Roadmap Explained